Ōm (ॐ) is Amen

We do have to connect a few dots to get to the bottom of this, but our ancestors left all the clues we need to dis-cover this truth and re-member (meaning to put back together what was dis-membered or di-vided, but not conquered or completely obliterated)...

OM (or ŌṀ) is also known as a praṇavaḥ, the sacred syllable designating Īsvara (the “divine ideal of pure awareness,” aka Infinite Intelligence, God, etc.). The transliterated character Ṁ (also sometimes written Ṃ or Ṅ) is what’s referred to as a nasal. Notice the dot above the transcribed letter M  — this denotes that Ṁ is pronounced as either Mmm or Nnn, depending on the preceding vowel nasal (we’ll save the specifics of such Sanskrit rules for another discussion, for now all that’s important to know is that Ṁ goes both ways and can be either Mmm or Nnn). What else is good to know is that in Sanskrit (which is written in Devanagari script), when a word ending in “A” is combined with a word beginning with “U” then an “O” is written instead of AU. This is why OM and AUM are used interchangeably which we’ll come back to again in this post. When chanting, OM becomes more of an extended hum A-U-M.

Remember when the dentist has said, “open wide and say ahhh…”? Well, when chanting Ōm (A-U-M or more specifically Ā-U-Ṁ), this is how the extended hum (Ā-U-Ṁ) begins. The Ahhh is where we start, then we ever so slowly draw our lips together eventually closing the mouth and ending with mmmmm… Between ahhhhh and mmmmm, as our mouths draw shut, we will also release an extended “oh “before “oo.” The combination of “ah” and “oo” is “oh” (as you can observe when slowly transitioning from Ahhh to Oooo; the sound you make goes through Ohhh to get from Ahhh to Oooo) which is why in Sanskrit, when a word ending in “a” is combined with a word beginning with “u,” an “o” is written, as in sūtra 1.33 where you have muditOpeksanam. Muditopeksanam is mudita + upeksanam. Mudita ends with “a” and upeksanam begins with “u”, yet instead of writing muditAUpeksanam, we write muditopeksanam. No wonder we sometimes see AUM and other times we see ŌM -- these are identical. Additionally, sūtra 1.28 says the purpose of repeating praṇavaḥ (the sacred syllable ŌM) while dwelling upon its meaning is so it becomes clear (which is specifically referring to becoming clear on the meaning of Īsvara - the “divine ideal of pure awareness” - Infinite Intelligence, God, etc.)

READY TO TRY? Take a deep inhale (first filling the chest, then the belly) then slowly let out Ahhhhhh - Ohhhhhh - OOooooo - Mmmmmm. When your lips close on the Mmmmmm, gradually allow your tongue to lift until the tip of it gently contacts the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth (this is how “Nnnn” sneaks in for ĀMN or “Amen”). Pause in silence momentarily, then take in another big inhale and repeat Ahhhhhh - Ohhhhhh - OOooooo - Mmmmmm - silence… Repeat this 108 times or for the amount of time you allot for yourself (5, 15, or 25 min, etc.). 

So there you have it… how ŌṀ is Āmen. 

And I know that when venturing into new territory and connecting dots on our own (because this material is either forgotten, suppressed, erased, or not yet identified, figured out, and known by modern man) the connections can seem like a stretch sometimes, and there might be resistance in the mind not wanting to go there. This is no different than a person with tight hamstrings (due to lack of expansive activity) finding it difficult and uncomfortable to stretch further than it is able to at the time. With a routine yogāsana practice, tight hamstrings will become stronger and more flexible over time. The same is true for the mind in terms of connecting dots -- AS ABOVE, SO BELOW. The more we make “direct observation of what is right in front of our eyes” a routine practice, the easier it will become to connect relevant dots without so much resistance to the (observable) OBVIOUS.

Before you go, getting back to ŌṀ / Ā-U-Ṁ / Āmen, isn’t it interesting that Ā-U-Ṁ begins with Au, which is the symbol for Gold (aurum) on the periodic table. Could this be a connection shared by ŌM (praṇavaḥ) and GOLD (the Christos, Gold Of Ophir in the Bible)? Does chanting A-U-M somehow work with the heaving of NUN (“N” the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet)? Hmmm… food for thought, especially when you consider that Yoga and the Bible fit so perfectly together. Stay tuned for more to come on the connection shared among Gold, the number 8, ॐ, and the OIL.

~Damon
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